Damascus: Getting there & around

There are several Syrianair offices scattered about the city centre. One of the most convenient is on Saahat Hijaz. Most of the other airline offices are grouped across from the Cham Palace Hotel on Sharia Maysaloun or one block south on Sharia Fardous.

There are two main bus stations in Damascus: Harasta (karajat Harasta), which has Pullman bus services to the north and international services to Turkey; and Baramke (karajat Baramki), which has services to the south, including to Jordan, Lebanon and the Gulf. In addition, there are several other minibus and microbus stations serving regional destinations.

There is a service taxi station at Baramke. Aging but well-loved yellow American sedans offer a 24hr service to Amman and Beirut (3hr). There are also infrequent service taxis to Baalbek.

All trains depart from Khaddam station, about 5km (3.1mi) southwest of the centre; there are four daily services to Aleppo. The historic Hijaz Railway offers a twice-weekly slow and uncomfortable train service to Jordan (9-12hr, Monday and Thursday); passengers must change trains at Deraa on the Syrian/Jordanian border.

Damascus International Airport is 32km (20mi) southeast of Damascus. In the arrivals hall you'll find a Cirrus, Maestro, Visa and MasterCard enabled ATM next to the Commercial Bank of Syria exchange booth. The exchange booth itself will exchange cash, but not travellers cheques. There's a 24hr tourist information office that supplies free maps of the city. A Karnak airport bus service runs between the airport forecourt and the southwest corner of the Baramke garage (30min); departures are every half hour between 06:00 and midnight. Look for the orange-and-white bus to the right as you exit the arrivals hall. If catching a taxi into the city, it pays to shop around. Car rental companies such as Hertz and Europcar have booths open from 08:00 to 22:00 .

Damascus is well served with a local bus and microbus network, but as the centre is so compact you'll rarely have to use it. All the taxis are yellow and there are hundreds of them.